Year abroad - Modern Languages

This is one of the most exciting parts of the degree. Let’s consider first of all the different ways in which you can split the year abroad:

A. Students doing 2 languages 60-60 credit split

You have 2 choices

If you took one language from beginner, you are strongly advised to spend at least one semester in that country

B. Students doing 2 languages 80-40 credit split

Just as with the students studying 2 languages equally, you have 2 choices. Either you can split the academic year (Sept- June) between the 2 countries evenly or you can spend an academic year in one country followed by a summer vacation placement in the other.

You are not compelled to spend more time in the country of the ‘major’ language.

If you took one language from beginner, you are strongly advised to spend at least one semester in that country.

C. Students doing 3 languages 40-40-40 credit split

Students studying 3 languages who want to continue to do 3 languages to final year must do 1 semester in the country of language 1, 1 semester in the country of language 2 and a month long vacation placement in the country of language 3.

If you took one language from beginner, you are strongly advised to spend at least one semester in that country.

You can elect to spend time in only 2 countries during the year abroad. However, you will normally only be permitted to follow 2 languages in the final year.

Students following 3 languages in year 2 who elect to only do 2 year abroad placements cannot normally continue with language 3 in the final year. These students would normally revert to 60-60 or 80-40 in the 2 remaining languages.

D. University, Teaching Assistantship or Work Placement

Most of our students spend their Year Abroad at University. Around 15-20% spend the year as teaching assistants and a tiny percentage follow a work placement.

The teaching assistantship scheme requires you to spend the academic year in one country. For students who intend to split the year abroad evenly between two countries or who are taking placements in three countries, the teaching assistantship is not normally a viable option. Students who take a teaching assistantship are required to pay half fees for their year abroad. We provide a bursary of £300 to offset travel expenses.

Very few students undertake work placements. It is normally possible to spend all or part of the year abroad in this way by arrangement with the member of staff responsible for year abroad placements.

Students who undertake placements at University benefit from our extensive range of partner institutions across Europe and Latin America. Those students following placements in EU countries go as part of the Erasmus-Socrates exchange scheme. As part of this scheme, you are not required to pay fees and you receive a grant of around £2000 from Brussels. Those students who undertake University placements outside the EU pay half fees for the year abroad as their placements are not subsidised under the Erasmus-Socrates scheme.